Snaps from the Field

Bathroom Lighting – Perhaps these Christmas lights could be relocated…

to a place where they’re not likely to fall into a tub of water containing a person. Just a thought.

Insulation and Wiring – Rule #62 of home inspection: If a rodent *can* gnaw on a thing, it *will* gnaw on that thing.

All rodents, including mice and rats, have four front teeth that never stop growing and must be worn down to keep them at a manageable size. If necessary, they’ll simply grind their teeth together to keep them at a manageable length, but they much prefer to gnaw on other things like wood, plastic, and the sheathing and insulation on electrical wiring. In some cases, when desperate, they actually eat the insulation. That wasn’t the case here, as the chewed-up insulation remains in a pile below the cable.

Electrical Service Drops – Avoid a “Hot” Summer

This electrical service drop contains a variety of defects:

• Both the utility splices are exposed at the “hot” legs of the service drop. The exposed conductors could shock or kill a person or animal. A strong wind could blow the splices into each other, causing an electrical arc that would damage them and pose a fire hazard to the house.
• Concealed contact between aluminum and copper wires might have caused the white corrosion.
• To the right of the utility splices, the big black lumps are split bolt connectors that an electrician installed when the temporary connection was made; they weren’t meant to be permanent.
• The short sections of cable between the split-bolt connectors and the utility splices are smaller than the other service cables, and could overheat.

Plumbing Drain or Miniature Golf?

The home inspector’s nemesis: a homeowner who’s willing to undertake any repair, regardless of ability. Every plumbing fixture with a drain requires a trap to hold a small plug of water and prevent sewer gas from entering the home. Even though this installation has two traps, neither will do any good because they’re both installed on their sides. Instead of holding plugs of water, these will just slow the flow of water. I’m not sure why they put blue toothpaste on every joint – these are slip joints that require no sealant.

Attic Pulldown Ladder – Drive nail through hole in bracket.

Seven words that are difficult to misunderstand. So why do people misunderstand them so often? As any home inspector in the Portland area will tell you, attic pulldown ladders are rarely installed properly. They require, at minimum, four nails (or sometimes lag screws) through each of the four mounting brackets. Most people use drywall screws, which are a particular problem because they have no listed strength and because they can snap so easily, and they always seem to drive them through the wood frame, which can split.

Dangerous Gas Line – Here’s a serious mistake that could be very dangerous.

This is a picture of a gas furnace with an air conditioning evaporator coil above it. The gas pipe is made from black steel pipe and begins at the left. After running through a red-handled valve that is, thankfully, turned off, the gas pipe runs into the condensate drain opening for the air conditioner coil. If you were to turn on that valve, gas would flow into the duct that contains the AC coil. Given enough time, the gas would travel through the ducts, flooding the house with gas and creating a potential for a house-destroying explosion.

In a proper installation, the black pipe would have run into the gray control valve near the bottom of the picture.

Aside from the obvious error in connecting the gas line to the wrong opening, it’s clear that whoever did the work was not an experienced installer. No professional would have smeared so much blue pipe sealant all over the place.